Several Pragmatic Questions Concerning Hand Held with Red

[Rob Castiglione]

Hi,

Still getting my hand held Red rig under control and I am almost there.

Just a couple of questions that would be of great help to me:

1. I am considering getting the battery belt clip to reduce weight for hand held work. However, isn't it better to stick the battery on the back of the camera (specifically the rods on the back) to get a proper balanced camera? Which is the better outcome - a good balanced camera or reduced weight?
2. If I am planning on using a Red Rock Micro matte box and the battery on a universal mount on the rods at the back of the camera for balance will the 18 inch rods be long enough or will I need the 24 " rods?

Thanks in advance.

 

[David Wyatt]

Hi Rob,

1. The Red's a pretty front & top-heavy camera so it does help having a weight on the back like the battery just to balance it better (you don't necessarily need the whole hefty cradle thing though if you're using CF cards...there are plenty of systems that circumvent the cradle out there like the Element Technica V-lock battery mount. Alternatively if you're intent on using the Red Drive you can use the 6ft drive cable to mount it on a belt too - you could use the Element Techinca vibration-isolating drive mount if you've got the bucks but again it's added weight on the camera body). I haven't tried the Element Technica Mantis thing with a battery belt clip but maybe some others here have? Personally I always find as long as a camera is well balanced a pound of weight here or there isn't such a big issue (the Mantis is reportedly very well balanced but is mucho expensivo).

2. I'm not sure if using the 18" bars leaves you much room at the back of the camera around the status screen (24" bars give you more room but they're bloody heavy unless you get carbon-fibre/nickel-plated ones!). Alternatively you could use short bars at the front for the matte box and separate short bars from the rear top mount for the battery plate (I think this might give you a tiny bit more room to get your shoulder under the camera and maybe lower the lens height an inch or so??) Element Technica have got some pretty cool lightweight battery plate/V-lock gizmos that might be worth checking out...

http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/show/v-dock

I don't know what kind of application you need it for but a pretty lightweight set-up would be the battery belt-clip and a clip-on matte-box like the LMB-5 (if you don't need bars & are pulling your own focus). For a handle you could either attach something like this to the rosette on the baseplate (having the baseplate on allows you to go straight onto a head/sliding baseplate if you ever need to):

http://www.moviecamerasupport.com/movie-camera-support-product.asp?urlsearch=Blue-Modular-Handle-Moose-Arri-Camera-Red-Panasonic-Sony

http://www.moviecamerasupport.com/m...Red-Modular-Camera-Handle-Arri-Panasonic-Sony

or to eliminate the added height of a baseplate (and for about the same price) you could run a Red handle off something like this:

http://www.longvalleyequip.com/rodsupport.php

Carbon Fibre rods or lightweight nickel-plated ones would be the icing on the cake:

http://www.elementtechnica.com/products/view.php?p=17

 

[Paul Kalbach]

Hi,

Still getting my hand held Red rig under control and I am almost there.

Just a couple of questions that would be of great help to me:

1. I am considering getting the battery belt clip to reduce weight for hand held work. However, isn't it better to stick the battery on the back of the camera (specifically the rods on the back) to get a proper balanced camera? Which is the better outcome - a good balanced camera or reduced weight?
2. If I am planning on using a Red Rock Micro matte box and the battery on a universal mount on the rods at the back of the camera for balance will the 18 inch rods be long enough or will I need the 24 " rods?

Thanks in advance.

1. I feel that shooting hand-held with an out-of-balance camera rig can be more fatiguing than a slightly heavier rig that's well balanced. Also, if you ever need to set your camera down and step away from it for a moment, keep in mind if you are tied to a battery belt with an umbilical cord you'll have the hassle of having to disconnect your power cable first. Then you'll have to wait for a re-boot after reconnecting. Or...de-belt youself to keep powered up, but also a hassle.

2. 18" rods are long enough. I have a Redrock Mattebox and Follow Focus with battery in back on my 18" rig.

 

[Rob Castiglione]

Thanks for the informative answers thus far - they will save me both time and money.

I am going to go with putting the battery on the back and my existing 18" rods.

Cheers